As craftnut said, shorten the length of your thread to no longer than wrist to elbow length.
And ALWAYS thread with the end feeding off the spool. Easiest and quickest way is to thread up to ten needles onto your spool to start with. Thread heaven and bees wax is good, but if your fingers are grubby that'll spread it to your fabric in no time. And if the threads really linty, throw it away. It means its weak. All that time hand sewing shouldn't be wasted on rubbish thread!!